The World Can Be Better When Hopes Coalesce

We all like to start a new year on a hopeful note. We like to think of all the possibilities of good work, but this will not take us far if we stay away from the realities.

- BHARAT DOGRA

So let us wish for all the good possibilities, plan and prepare for them, but let us not ignore the grim realities of the world.

By any reckoning, the year which just ended was distressing and dangerous, and the only consolation can be to be thankful that some of the bigger threats it held out did not blow up into catastrophic situations, a possibility many strategic experts kept warning us of.

The two biggest and most dangerous wars continued right through 2024, although these should and could have ended much earlier. The threat of a nuclear war was stated to be closer for relatively long stretches of time in 2024 than at any other time since the Cuban missile crisis of 1962.

This and other big dangers, such as about 50 other conflicts and various serious environmental problems as well as increasing inequalities and humanitarian crisis situations, will of course continue in the new year. This is why the world has to be thoughtful about considering where exactly it will find hope.